My time at Brit’s Home has been a culmination of fantastic moments with the beautiful children and staff. I have been writing down some of my favorite moments along the way to reflect on the best moments and bring a smile to your face.

-Many of you probably know that we have a system in place where the children can earn tickets if they behave well. They then use those tickets to buy something at our store filled with fun little goodies such as playdoh, toys, crossword books, etc. On Medlens birthday, many children lined up at the store and later delivered their new prize to Medlens as a birthday gift. It’s no secret that Medlens has an outgoing and loveable personality, but this was a proud moment for us at Brit’s Home because it clearly displayed the love and graciousness we work to enstill in our children.

-For Valentina’s birthday, she got a little stuffed baby that makes quiet crying sounds. When she first opened it, she was a bit concerned for this baby and not sure how to deal with it. Madame Gina, our social worker on staff, was elated with this baby and jumped up and down in her excitement as Valentina looked on in utter confusion. It only took about 2 minutes for Valentina to realize that this was the coolest gift ever and she found her inner mother spirit as she has taken great care of her little one. As we know, it takes a village to raise a child and it just warms my heart to see that Valentina has shared this baby with all of the little girls as they take turns playing with and holding the baby doll. It has been months since her birthday and this baby is still a huge part of the daily life of the young girls.

-Most weekends, at least some of the children will go for a walk in the community. Sometimes they walk in the downtown area, near St. Francois Church, or up the mountain. On this particular Saturday, we walked up the mountain to the infamous “river”. Most of the year, this river is either a dry river bed or a trickle of a stream. This day, the river was a step above a stream and instead of being a simple hop, there was no way around this river. I stood on one side watching as all of the children soaked their shoes and walked through the water or took their shoes off and walked barefoot. I can’t stand having wet socks and shoes but should I really walk barefoot on the jagged rocks? As I contemplated this seemingly very difficult decision, Coach Rolando, our trusted weekend leader, walked back across the river with no hesitation to give me a piggy back ride across the river. That’s the kind of support and love our children receive from the staff every single day.

-The children all attend church every Sunday and one week, Coach told all of the children to change and put on their sneakers after church. Everyone was confused because this wasn’t the norm, but they obliged and promptly lined up at the door ready to go. Steeve of course brought a speaker and an iPod so that he could be the DJ wherever we ended up. We went for a walk in the hot sun to the “river”. Once we got to the riverbed, we all relaxed and listened to music in the background until their jam came on. It took no longer than 30 seconds of this song playing for the whole group to start dancing and chanting along. Christ-Love found himself in the middle of a chanting crowd of his BLB Family and basked in the glory as he performed some pretty impressive dance moves.

-One of my absolute favorite moments was when the children were singing. They recently learned the song, “When the Saints go Marching in”, and they sang it with true enthusiasm. The older children were singing this song when one of the night caregivers, Roosevelt, started to sing loudly and do a little dance. Meanwhile, the younger children upstairs were busy doing laundry but quickly flooded the hallway to sing and dance along. Soon enough, the older kids started singing even louder, dancing in their seats and some even enjoyed themselves so much that they created their own dance floor. It’s true that here at Brit’s home, we can make a dance floor anywhere. This simple song brought the entire home together and it was truly beautiful.

-These simple acts of love, faith, and hope are the types of things Britney experienced and saw during her time in Haiti some years ago. It did not take long for her to see the beauty in the giving culture and loving people of Haiti.

-Jess